WE’VE GONE TO POTTERS
Clucas says guilt’s tripped up side
The Potters midfielder made the frank admission after the club had stared into the abyss just a few moments from the end of their Boxing Day clash against Sheffield Wednesday.
Stoke faced going into the final game of the calendar year rock-bottom as they trailed the Owls.
And with Wigan beating Derby it seemed as if a club that had spent most of the decade in the Premier League would be starting 2020 needing a revival to keep them out of League One.
But late goals at the bet365 Stadium and in Lancashire both lifted the gloom – and Stoke out of the drop zone.
And Clucas believes collective guilt at a club with a hefty wage bill has had an effect. Asked why the Potters have struggled so badly, he said: “I’ve been asked that 1,000 times this season.
“When you look at our squad we shouldn’t be where we are. I’ve done countless interviews, we’re in every day, I see the quality we have.
“Honestly, it was one of the most exciting pre-seasons I’ve ever had. I genuinely thought we had a good chance of being at the top, fighting for promotion and then what’s gone on, is hard to put into words.
“There’s been some turmoil. I think when the club was relegated from the Premier League it was in a downward spiral and everyone expected the club to bounce back up.
“That’s perhaps a bit unfair because teams don’t do that.
It’s tough to get back in. Since then it has been chopping and changing. The chairman has been fantastic, pumping money in, but it’s been hard to get that settled team, settled club. Perhaps too much change.
“But all of us have under-performed. I put myself in that bracket. I’ve been here two years now.
“I’ve not performed as well as I expect to myself. We all know that in the dressing room. The boys will shoulder it. Maybe in the last two months we have tried too much as we have felt guilty about it. We’re going away and doing too much individually rather than collectively. I read an interview with Jack (Butland, left) and he said that – and I think he’s maybe right.
“He’s been trying too hard and it’s cost him his form. We have big players who have played at the top. We have had a tough couple of years. We are here now and we are the ones that have to turn it around.”
The accusation around the stadium among supporters is that the current crop are happy just to pick up their wages. Stoke, bankrolled by bet365, have one of the highest wage bills in the division.
Clucas added: “That’s easy to say when you sit on the outside – that we just pick up our money and go home. I can only speak for myself but it’s not like that at all.
“In terms of commitment, this is one of the best dressing rooms I’ve been in. I’m honest, I’ve played a lot of football. I’ve played in every league. I know I’m not playing as well as I can. I’m disappointed. I’ll try and drag myself through it.
“Sometimes you are going to have a bad day. You are going to pick up form and you are going to have spells when you don’t. We have definitely had a tough period. But quality players are here and they don’t turn bad overnight.”